How to Create Memorable Real-Time Customer Experiences

Great customer service extends past simply providing a product or service. In our previous article we looked at what modern customer service entails. Among the top qualities of good customer service expected by customers is speed and real-time assistance.

Looking to the future, marketing experts agree that the major priority (and/or challenge) will be creating unique and memorable real-time experiences. Experiences that not only involve day to day business operations, but also include specific acts of going above and beyond the call of duty to please your customer – even if it means going back in your own pocket. In this segment, we look at some of the different customer experience strategies companies are using to remain competitive.

1: Agile is Necessary

According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing report, high performing marketing organizations are almost 10 times more likely to employ agile frameworks and strategies. This simply means making use of strategies that focus more on customer satisfaction with the ability to operate in a sustainable pace, react, and alter behavior accordingly.

As opposed to being built out of nowhere, real time experiences are slowly and gradually programmed by a series of strategies set up to only execute a specified range of parameters. For instance, a website could be programmed to send emails to customers who haven’t visited the site in days or show specific content depending on the customer’s intentions. As marketers now take up roles that seem more suited for engineers, the ability to create instant experiences, test them on the spot and get immediate feedback is more crucial than ever.

As such, brands must stop viewing real time as the production of live customer experiences, but rather as the ability to test out ideas in real time with the aim of optimizing future outcomes. And when it comes to testing, reviewing and optimizing real time experiences, agile methods are just what the marketing doctor ordered.

2: Decepticons Unite – Assemble your Bot Army

When it comes to creating powerful and memorable customer experiences, nothing beats the power of bots. I mean, literally all consumers want them – just check out the potential use cases for chatbots by millennials and you’ll see what we’re on about. Millennials expect bots to address their issues instantly with easy communication and give all the answers to questions in great detail. Not to mention provide 24 hour service and access at all times.

However, bots are not just for consumer application; they also come in handy for B2B brands. One common example is lead generation bots which have evolved into quite the popular source for leads. Another example is Lego’s chatbot known as Ralph which was deployed on facebook and was responsible for generating a whopping 25% of all their sales during the 2017 holiday season.

3: Reviews and Interviews

One of our earlier blogs was centered around the importance of following up even after making a sale. If we’re talking customer experience, then it also makes sense to ask the customers how their overall experience with your company was after concluding sales. This is hands down the easiest way of getting better at providing real time experiences and improving other areas.

For most marketers, this is a radically new concept since the norm after concluding sales is usually to move on to the next customer. The main trick is to make sure you keep the interview short and simple as opposed to making a lengthy interrogation out of it. This is another vital customer demand that companies can’t afford to ignore. In this day and age, only those brands that recognize the need for creating memorable and effective customer experiences and use technologies like chatbots will be able to deliver and retain their customers.

Additional Tips as You move Forward Include:

Analyze and exploit even the minutest of details to enhance customer experience

Maintain proximity and communication with customers; gather as much information as possible regarding your products and service usage as well as brand experience

Ensure your staff and employees have proper training to not only deal with all customer queries, but come up with innovative, out of the box solution when the occasion calls for it.

Although you are creating memorable experiences for customers, it’s important to member that your employees are your first customers; if they’re happy, everyone else is happy. Keep them well motivated with rewards and recognition.

Conclusion

No matter what industry you work in, one universal truth remains constant; customer expectations are now higher than ever before. Today’s buyer wants an experience that not only meets all their current needs, but also anticipates needs that they themselves don’t even know yet.

And as the customer becomes more empowered, companies with poor customer experiences may find themselves low on sales in the next quota. It’s up to management and top executives to take up the massive undertaking that is setting up unique and memorable real time customer experiences. To make the process smoother, make use of CRM tools like Veloxy Engage and Veloxy Mobile. These will help companies make the most out of Salesforce by keeping track of customer activities, needs, behavior patterns, expectations and forecasts that will help improve the overall experience of your services.